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Post being replied to

All signs seem to point to ND (long post) by Orangutan

Caveat - To quote Gregg Easterbrook "All predictions wrong or your money back"

Her final 8:
Kentucky
Connecticut
Virginia
North Carolina State
Duke
South Carolina
Wake Forest
Notre Dame

Virginia - There's no doubt in my mind that Sam would commit to UVA's men's basketball team if she were a similarly talented young man. As a young woman, the women's team is a more dubious proposition.

To me, the fact that she is committing so early and that UVA has no coach means it will not be UVA. This announcement comes 7 months before the early signing period. If she were leaning towards UVA, why not wait until the coach is named and at least have a conversation with the new coach. She has plenty of time.

I wonder if Boyle's resignation didn't in part prompt this announcement. The coach she had a relationship with leaves and that's the final nail in the coffin for the hometown program.

UConn - Per a poster on the Boneyard who appears to have some amount of inside info, UConn has been out of contact since the beginning of the year. One of the veteran BY posters, UConnCat, regularly is ahead of the curve on UConn recruiting issues and she seems to believe this info is legit. Also, Sam's twitter likes seem to indicate she was rooting for ND in the Final Four game. She liked score updates in the 1st quarter when ND was ahead but none when UConn gained control in the 2nd quarter. Then, she started liking score updates again when ND made it close in the 3rd quarter.

South Carolina - Cynthia Jordan is SC's director of basketball operations. She posted a tweet on April 7, one day after Sam announcing her ceremony, that reads in relevant part "Y not SC? Y not @dawnstaley? #Asking4friend". I found this through the SC forum Cocky Talk. The poster who mentioned it noted that similar posts were made when Christyn Williams and Olivia Nelson-Ododa chose UConn. The timeline fits perfectly with Sam calling SC that day and telling them "no thanks".

Wake Forest - I have read that Wake's coach Jen Hoover was the earliest major program to recruit and offer Sam. I think that's why Wake is in the final 8. Hard for her to imagine her choosing lowly Wake over multiple blue blood programs and the hometown team. Not much Wake-related social media stuff from her either.

Kentucky, NC State, Duke - Haven't seen much social media activity (likes) towards any of these programs. Think they are just also-rans. Kentucky makes no sense to me (program seems to be a downward trend).

Notre Dame - I'm borrowing this from poster on a Duke forum *** "Unless she had been trolling ND for 3 months she's going there. She has liked every ND WCBB for 3 months straight Her choice is the worst kept secret or she is an absolute game player." ***

Not much else to say. It's either Notre Dame or one heck of a troll job based on her twitter.

Lots of folks liked the clips of Arike's game-winning shots or stuff like that. Sam has liked tweets not just from major media outlets, ND players, and the official NDWBB acount but also from ND alumni, Mendoza, ND player's family members, the NDWBB managers. A vast and diverse array of ND-related accounts.

She's not liking tweets like that for any other school. It's ND or this has all been an elaborate ruse. I don't think she's that kind of kid. So I conclude she'll be Irish. That won't stop me from being nervous until it goes official, though.